1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to appliances for use during certain orthopaedic surgical procedures, particularly those procedures involving replacing or securing a suture to a bone mass, as for example, to attach and maintain a ligament thereto.
2. Prior Art
In a practice of certain orthopaedic surgical procedures, particularly those involving attachment of a ligament to a bone mass, as for example, knee or elbow surgery, it has long been a problem to effectively anchor that ligament to the bone mass surface during the healing process. Which healing process involves the ligament growing to that bone mass to restore mobility to the orthopaedic patient. The problem of locating and securing a suture to a bone mass was addressed in an earlier currently pending patent application by one of the inventors, E. Marlowe Goble entitled "Suture Anchor Assembly" U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,100. This patent application involves a combination drill and anchor appliance formed from stainless steel or like non-corrosive metal. The suture anchor includes threads formed around one end and a fluted drill on the distal end therefrom. The appliance, in a single step, with a separate drill, is turned into the bone mass, the threads formed around the upper end portion thereof turned into that bone mass. Removal of the drill from the suture anchor exposes a suture that is secured in the anchor head or top surface. This appliance is particularly effective for securing a suture to a bone at a point thereon where access to that bone surface is tight or is in a constricted area of the body. When the suture anchor is secured in the bone mass, it will remain therein for the life of the patient or until it is removed. While this generally will not be a problem, in certain circumstances it is desirable to provide an appliance that will be bio-degradable within the body such that, after a period of time, it and the suture will be dissolved. Prior to the body absorbing the anchor and suture the ligament will have grown onto the bone area where the suture anchor was located. The present invention provides both a drilling device and a suture anchor applicator that are operated in separate steps in the process for securing a suture anchor to a bone mass that may be bio-degradable to be dissolved by the body after the healing processes have taken place.
The above cited earlier patent application in a suture anchor assembly sets out certain earlier orthopaedic devices. These arrangements include patents by Furlow et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,370 and Asnis, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,527 that describe, respectively, a device for positioning an implant within the soft body tissue and a drill guide for guiding guide pins drilled into bone mass. Neither of these devices however, involves a drill, suture anchor applicator, or suture anchor like those of the present invention. Additionally, the earlier suture anchor assembly patent application also cites patents by Morrill, U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,111, Troutner, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,880, and Raftopoulous, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,773 that all involve drill arrangements. The drill arrangement of the present invention is, however distinct therefrom in that it provides a fluted drill wherefrom sissoring sections will strategically extend outwardly to cut a flared hole within a bone mass.